


Behind the Door

by Rosita



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Levi, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hange Zoë Being Hange Zoë, How Do I Tag, Isabel and Eren are Related, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, M/M, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Related, No Angst, Nobody is Dead, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Petra is a child, Pining, Pining Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Roommates, Severus Snape is a Christmas Tree, Slow Build, Sorry Not Sorry, Ymir and Historia are girl scouts, brief mention of lego blocks, brief mention of spiders, inappropriate use of the Pokémon theme song, the narrator is a sarcastic little shit, they watch ghibli movies together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 01:23:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9100330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosita/pseuds/Rosita
Summary: Levi had once thought it would be a good idea to live with Eren Jaeger.(Sure, it had been Isabel's idea at first, but how bad could splitting up the bills be?  Plus, if the kid was anything like his sister, Levi maybe wouldn't have to starve to death for lack of cooking skills.)Turns out it wasn't.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I just want to say a few things before you start reading:
> 
> *there is some Eren/Jean for a while at first but this work really is Ereri  
> *The characters could seem pretty ooc sometimes but since they haven't gone through the same trials and all, I figured their personalities wouldn't be exactly the same  
> *English isn't my first language so if I wrote something that seems odd, you can tell me!
> 
> Thank you!

Levi had once thought it would be a good idea to live with Eren Jaeger.

 

Sure, it had been Isabel's idea at first, but how bad could splitting up the bills be?  Plus, if the kid was anything like his sister, Levi maybe wouldn't have to starve to death for lack of cooking skills.

 

Except Levi had certainly _not_ signed up for all this bullshit.  You'd think a college student wouldn't have time to remain stupid for so many hours a day, but apparently, even all the essays and work he had to do didn't hold the mighty Eren Jaeger from being the perfect example of human idiocy.

 

Sometimes it was so ridiculous that Levi couldn't even get mad.

 

So when he came back one day with one very stiff Severus Snape advertisement disguised as a Christmas tree in his living room, he didn't know whether he should be proud or disappointed.  Instead, he just went in his room and tried to ignore the fact that every kid's nightmare was standing in his apartment with way more garlands than what was respectable.

 

It was even more creepy when it started to get dark and the lights kicked in.  Levi was pretty sure he could never go get a glass of milk in the kitchen ever again, or at least until that fucking abomination left his living space.

 

Didn't really help that Eren was so _fucking_ proud when he showed Levi to their _Christmas tree_ that night.

 

(And he couldn't really help but wonder because it would be such a Jaeger thing to do:

 

"Did you just steal that from the movie theater?"

 

And Eren had once again proven to be someone Levi could never understand.

 

"Of course not.  I wouldn't ever steal.  Sasha gave it to me from the movie theater."

 

"Eren, Sasha worked there one week and that was months ago.")

 

In the end, Levi couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed, so he just decided to let Snape stare as he did things much more fun than standing in a corner all day while lighting up like an obese firefly.  Like writing essays.  And studying for exams (he couldn't help but being generally bitter that his _fucking Christmas tree_ would probably actually _enjoy_ doing these assignments).

-o-

Tuesdays were the worst.

 

Eren didn't have any classes on Tuesdays, which meant Levi often came home to find him in weird positions just about anywhere ranging from the living room to under the kitchen table while listening to music Levi would really rather have never heard.

 

He almost left right then when he opened the front door to see his roommate hotly reciting the entire fucking _Romeo and Juliet_ play while holding a chicken burger with some guy shouting 'Vodka!' repeatedly through the radio in the background.

 

Almost.

 

It was quite harder to leave once said roommate noticed him and stopped his music to go towards him.  There were just some moments in life when you wished you were blind, and for Levi, it was when he saw Eren finishing his hamburger in two bites.  That was more horrifying than a Japanese ad, to say the least.

 

"Levi," he exclaimed, a shit-eating grin on his face (and it really could've been cute how enthusiastic he was, but there was chicken between his teeth and Levi would not stand for this--he would _not_ ).  He placed his hands on Levi's shoulders, making him wonder if he would have to clean ketchup from his shirt for weeks.  "I need your help."

 

"Eren, no.  Last time I 'helped' you, I almost broke my fucking leg."  He glared at the offending hands on his shoulders.

 

"C'mon, I only need you to dance with me!"

 

"I _just_ said I didn't want to break my leg," Levi hissed, taking a step back.

 

"I'm not that bad!"

 

He sighed, crossing his arms.  "Why do you need to dance anyway?"

 

"The DVD said dancing burned a lot of calories," he started.  "I can't just dance alone!"

 

"Pretty sure you wouldn't need to burn calories if you just stopped eating shit."  It wasn't Levi's fault if Eren went to put the music back on before he could find a valid reason to refuse (except his personal safety, which was already quite compromised just by the fact he knew people like Hange fucking Zoe).  It wasn't Levi fault that Eren brought him to the living room.  It wasn't Levi's fault that the hands on his shoulders were so warm and it wasn't Levi's fault that Eren was wearing a pink headband that made his face look all kinds of wrong (but it was his fault he found it kind of fascinating).

 

It wasn't Levi's fault that Eren's taste in music was just completely _outrageous_.

 

He really should've left when he heard the first notes, but then Eren smiled and there was just so much chicken between his teeth that Levi could do nothing but dig his fingers in the other's hips and hope it would make the smile disappear because it was right out _disgusting_.

 

It was so awkward it made him want to scream, and he was sure he had kicked Snape at one point.

 

"I swear if you start singing, I'm leaving you right there," he said when he saw Eren opening his mouth.

 

"But Levi," the brunet whined.  "What's the point of listening to the Pokémon theme song if you can't sing along?"

 

"You sing, I leave."

 

"Fine."

 

So it continued to be awkward, and the song eventually changed, both their hands unmoving (Levi swore Snape had moved since earlier).  He almost laughed when he heard the lyrics that replaced the one song Levi would've rather left in his childhood to be forever forgotten.

 

"You're fucking with me, right?"

 

"Do _not_ insult Digimon."

 

"You know, I'm pretty sure the DVD said slow-dancing didn't burn calories," Levi remarked after a while.  "If you can even call that dancing."

 

Eren only hummed, and it _really_ wasn't Levi's fault that his hands were so warm.

 

(It was Levi's fault, however, that he missed them on his shoulders after that.)

-o-

Levi wouldn't say he was bad at cooking.

 

The problem was that anyone who ever tasted his food would say otherwise.  Another problem was that he was convinced the instructions on the Kraft Dinner box were a mere suggestion.

 

So when Eren came home that night, he could only answer his "What're we eating?"by a brief and evasive "Soup".

 

Could only glance down when the other came into the kitchen to look at the two bowls and sighed.

 

"Why do you always put so much milk?"

 

"If I don't, the powder doesn't mix."

 

"That's because you have to heat the milk before putting the powder," the brunet explained.

 

"Oh."  That seriously didn't make any sense.  Kraft Dinner was so complicated.

 

"Yeah, oh.  Otherwise, it just turns into this weird, shady soup.  If you're gonna do it your weird way, at least make it edible."

 

"I like Kraft Dinner soup," Levi tried, hopeful (as if anyone would actually believe him).

 

"Oh my god," Eren groaned.  "You just don't want to admit you can't even cook Kraft Dinner of all things."

 

"It's better if you microwave it after a few days," he defended.

 

"Oh my god," he repeated.  "Don't you dare touch my Hamburger Helper."

 

 And Levi was waiting for that moment Eren would throw his food out and go eat somewhere else like most people did when confronted with Levi's food.

 

Except he didn't. 

 

Because it was Eren Jaeger, so of course he picked up his bowl and ate all of it and _of course_ he still had a dazzling smile afterwards.

 

And of course it didn't make Levi feel warm when he saw the empty bowl. 

-o-

The cereal box was being an asshole.

 

It's not like it really would have changed anything in its life if it had been a shelf lower.  And, quite frankly, Levi was just too stubborn to get a chair, so he simply tried to ignore the counter top pressing against his stomach in an almost painful way, his fingers barely grazing the top shelf.

 

It's not like it was even the only place where it could've been—there was a perfectly good space right below.

 

He huffed, stopped standing on his tip-toes for a second.

 

Felt warmth at his side, heard the box being placed right in front of him.  Turned to see eyes too bright for so early in the morning.  He picked the box up, fingers cold, and went over to the fridge.

 

“Tell Santa Claus I've been good, won't you?”

 

Seems like Eren Jaeger was being an asshole too. 

 

“Fuck you.”  He closed the fridge, milk freezing against his skin.  Levi stared at the (tall— _taller_ ) mess in front of him.  Considered his options, opened his mouth to speak.  “Grab me a bowl too, yeah?”

 

The last thing he heard before leaving the room was a snort.

-o-

 There was food in the fridge, and if that wasn't suspicious, Levi didn't know what was.

 

“Eren, is everything okay?” he called over his shoulder, only to have the other peek out from his room.

 

“Yeah, why?”  Levi pointed to the fridge.  “Oh, yeah, about that,” the brunet started, opening his door wider to step out, a comb stuck in his messy hair.  “There's...someone coming over tonight, so could you maybe...?”

 

Levi hummed.  “I guess I'll just hang out with Hange or something.  Or not.”

 

“Thanks,” the other sighed.  Levi looked at him once again, comb and (not so) nice clothes and all.  He walked over to Eren.

 

“Don't move,” he whispered, before grabbing the comb and tugging, trying to get it to fucking _move_ (except his hair seemed to be made of the most resistant shit ever, which, quite frankly, fucking _sucked_ , and resulted in more than a few hissed 'fuck'). 

 

“You know,” Levi said, after a while, brushing his fingers through the other's hair to make sure there wasn't any knots.  “I think you should put that ridiculous yellow shirt.”

 

Eren's face scrunched up.  “You really want me to wear that?”  He snorted.  “What, the penguins on it are gonna catch me a man?”

 

Levi walked to his room, stuffed clothes in a backpack quickly and walked right back to the kitchen.  “Well, yeah.  Anyone who doesn't like penguin is soulless and isn't worth it.” He thought for one second.  Shrugged. “Plus, yellow makes your eyes look golden.”

 

He grabbed his shoes and quickly put them on, considering bringing a coat before deciding his sweater was enough.

 

The brunet scoffed.  “Yeah, I think not.”

 

“Suit yourself.”  The door closed behind him.

 

Opened one second later.  “Get it?   _Suit_ yourself.”

 

“Levi, leave.  You're embarrassing yourself.”

-o-

Levi was sure there was a law somewhere that said there was a limit to how many homeless men you could feed. 

 

Hange probably didn't know about it.

 

He didn't really mind most of the time, as long as they were relatively clean, but he was half sure the new guy was out to kill him, and he would certainly never accept the candies he’d been trying to shove down his throat for about an hour.

 

It was bad enough that he had to sit next to him at the table when they had been eating, he really didn’t want to know what kind of flavor was _grey_.  It took hours and an angry call from one of the guy’s wife’s cousin’s daughter’s boyfriend’s dealer on Hange’s fucking phone for them to leave, and by then the sun had long set.

 

“I hope you wash that couch with bleach,” was the first thing Levi said after they had all left.  She raised her eyebrows, picking up plates and bringing them to the sink.

 

“You’re not usually that bad.  Something wrong?”  He scrunched up his nose.

 

“I don’t trust the new guy,” he said, pulling on the tablecloth to fold it carefully.

 

“Who?” Hange asked, her voice echoing through the whole room.  That was another weird thing about Hange’s apartment.  Sounds just seemed to bounce off walls almost creepily, as if someone had thought it would be a good idea to scare the shit out of its residents with the most suspicious sounds in the dead of the night.  “You mean Gustav?”

 

“You’re fucking with me.  Please tell me he isn’t really named Gustav.”

 

“What’s wrong with being named Gustav?”

 

“You’re kidding, right?  Did you somehow miss the five years of school where Gustav was the name of the science teacher’s fucking wooden dildo?”

 

“Wait.  Fuck.  I’m feeding a dildo.”

 

“A _wooden_ dildo.”

 

Later that night, Hange would turn in her bed to face Levi, softly whispering, “Do you think dildos have feelings?” and he would want nothing more than to tell her to shut the fuck up, but he wasn’t sure it was worth it.

-o-

Levi would never shower at Hange’s in a million years.  He’d tried it once, and he was pretty sure the shower had tried to kill him.  Not as bad as him smelling the same as Hange Zoe for the whole damn day, but pretty fucking close.

 

Using his own soap in his own shower was definitely worth walking half an hour in the cold.

 

The apartment was oddly silent though, even Levi standard, but it’s not like he complained.  One Jaeger out meant one less Jaeger to take care of.  That statement was made false by the time he came out of the shower, barely in time to make it to his first class, dripping water but still alive enough to appreciate the fact that his apartment was so much better than Hange’s.

 

“Hey,” he called while hurrying to his room to get his textbooks.  He didn’t wait for an answer before speaking up again.  “How’d it go?”

 

“Good, I guess.  We’re gonna go see a movie after Christmas.”  Levi hummed, pulling on his coat.

 

“Did you wear the shirt with penguins?” he asked.  Eren laughed (and Levi would have probably been insulted in the shirt’s stead if he hadn’t been in such a _goddamn_ hurry).  “Whatever,” he mumbled.  “Don’t wreck the place while I’m gone.”

-o-

It was the last day of class before the Christmas holidays and Levi was right about to be respectfully escorted to prison for murder.  Murders.  Whatever.

 

It’s not like he could be held accountable for his actions against people who had the power to give you exams right before you left and fucking used it (again and again and _again_ and he was pretty sure there was a girl who had been studying under the library tables for a week straight.  No comments). 

 

He could’ve been doing nice things instead.  Like cuddling a cat he didn’t have.  Or bugging Hange.

 

Not like being stuck reading his notes over and over was his first choice.

 

Teachers’ idea of a gift seemed to be a headache, though, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.  It wasn’t.  Knowing this didn’t make it any easier.

 

It really didn’t help that Snape was glowing and glaring at him when he came home, as if he was scolding him for all the stupid mistakes he had probably made.  Didn’t really help that it was freezing, didn’t really help that his shower was cut short by the sound of the fire alarm (which turned out to be the neighbours’).

 

It certainly didn’t help that Eren came back that night and forced him (very weakly, without much convincing needed) to watch Ghibli movies with him. 

 

Or maybe it did, but nobody needed to know.

-o-

Levi was older.

 

Woo-fucking-hoo.  About one day older, and yet the whole world seemed to be very keen on reminding him they had absolutely zero counting abilities and trying to convince him he had grown a year overnight.

 

Especially his mother.  That woman couldn’t be trusted anywhere near maths to save her life.

 

Not in the morning, at least.  Her counting abilities were pretty damn great when she got the Monopoly out, though.  Even more when she requested 24 dollars every time he landed on Marvin Gardens, which was admittedly a lot more than advisable (and she did it before he even moved his pawn too _, like who the fuck does that?_   Levi firmly believed you could know how much a mother was tired of her kids’ shit by how many Monopoly prices she remembered.  _+3 if she can tell you just won second place in a beauty contest before the dice even land and always makes the same joke before giving you your goddamn 10$_ ).

 

He didn’t really know why December 25th seemed like a good day to destroy any loving relationship his family had ever had, but tradition was tradition and his mother wanted to play Monopoly, so Levi would play.

 

It got really violent about the time Mikasa decided to be the annoying little sister he was convinced she was paid to be and stole the last cocktail sausages leftover from the night before (and started to eat them cold because she had no soul).

 

Levi might or might not have stole them back simply to annoy her (hint: he did).

 

He was half convinced his family was filled with Satan’s spawns by the time it was dark  and he really wasn’t sure he wanted to open his gifts (and maybe it had to do with Mikasa’s horrible wrapping skills, but you could never be certain).

 

Nothing more satisfying than receiving a pink cat onesie from his mom and that year’s Chapleau.  Nothing, really.

 

(Except maybe Mikasa’s gift to him, aka Lego blocks _again. ~~Well fuck you too, Mikasa, next year you’re getting coal.~~_ )

-o-

Levi considered himself to be a patient man.

 

There was a limit to that, though, and that one motherfucker in front of him who seemed to think a green light was a full time parking had somehow managed to reach it.  Violently.

 

He just wanted to be home and take a shower as soon as possible, but he had that simple dream savagely ripped away from his very hands by a goddamn 2005 red Pontiac Wave.  Who even has a car like that anymore (a very hypocritical question considering Levi had the exact same model from 2007)?

 

So Levi got his dream right back by rolling dangerously close to the metal abomination and being overall very aggressive.  With the collaboration of annoying honking, which was generally a good motivation for people, apparently.

 

He was half way through cleaning when he heard a knock on the door, and of fucking course it would be a nervous girl scout.  A _tall_ nervous girl scout.  Levi should probably have been offended that a twelve-year-old had a few inches on him, but he really just wanted to know if Lysol was as good as Mr Clean.

 

“Hum, hi!  I’m selling chocolate to help pay for our activities with the scouts and I was wondering if maybe you would like to support us?”

 

Really nervous.  Levi almost thought about buying all of it simply so the poor kid wouldn’t have to talk to other people again when it made her that uncomfortable, but his wallet didn’t give a fuck about that.

 

“Yeah.  What kind of activities?” he asked, and the girl’s eyes lit up so much he thought she would implode.

 

“Well, we do a lot of different things.  Last year, we went scuba diving and all sort of stuff, but this year we’re shooting for the Jamboree in Japan.  It’s basically for scouts from all over the world, and this one’s gonna be really big, but we need a lot of money to make it happen,” she explained, getting tense again, as if she had said too much.

 

“That’s great,” Levi said, getting his wallet out.  “How much do they cost?”

 

“Three dollars for these.”  She pointed to one side of her box, before moving to the other.  “And then two for five dollars.”

 

Levi almost reached for the three dollar side, if only for the sake of his health.  He really did.  But he knew Eren liked chocolate more than his life and liked giving away his money to kids for various and sometimes dubious reasons even more.  He took a dark and a caramel, paid five dollars and thanked the kid before going back to what he was doing before.

 

(Lysol turned out to be just as good as Mr Clean.)

-o-

Eren came back four days later, arms full of gifts and hair full of snow.

 

It really shouldn’t have surprised him there was one for him and it shouldn’t have surprised him that it was a bunch of t-shirts.  None of that ugly Christmas sweater bullshit.  Just shirts that Eren had picked up probably thinking they were funny when they weren’t.

 

He picked up the first one (‘Please tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes thank you’).

 

“Is this a short joke?”  Levi wasn’t too sure how he felt about that, especially considering the fact that the shirt was a small and still seemed to be too big for him (the sizes around the world always fucked him up, for some reason.  He was pretty sure he’d bought children’s clothes at some point in time).

 

“Maybe,” Eren answered, mischief shining in his eyes and, well, that was kind of creepy but he guessed it didn’t change much, considering Eren was weird to begin with.  Levi sighed and went back to his gift.

The second one said ‘You’ve really gotta hand it to short people...because we usually can’t reach it anyway’.

 

“That is a fucking short joke.”

 

“Glad to see you’re still so sharp.”

 

Levi huffed before looking at the last one (‘3 out of 4 voices in my head want to sleep (the other wants to know if penguins have knees.’)) and started laughing.

 

“Okay but” Laugh.  “Okay but do penguins have knees?”

 

Eren looked at him for about 5 seconds before laughing too, looking at him as if he was stupid.  “Of course they don’t, Levi.”  The brunet shook his head.  “That’s why they do the slidy slide thing.”

 

Levi suddenly stopped laughing to look at the other.  “That makes sense,” he agreed and smiled again.  He got up, went to his room and came back with a large gift bag.  “Here’s yours.”

 

(Levi would like to advise everyone to never give Lego blocks to any member of the Jaeger family, even if _you_ received them and wanted to be freed.  Same goes for books.  They’ll use either to kill something and there’s one chance out of two it’s gonna be you (then the other half is the spider in the kitchen named Thomas).)

 

(Levi needs your attention again, this time to tell you that Eren Jaeger is a fucking nerd and that he knows the name of the girl scout who sells chocolate, and it’s quite frankly a bit ridiculous and Levi is totally judging him.)

 

(Okay but Eren fucking Jaeger is totally a ridiculous nerd and actually looked up to see if penguins had knees and dared act normal when he realised they did.)

 

(Levi doesn’t really need you to know he thought this same nerd was cute for a second.)

-o-

There was a yellow Lego block on top of the fridge and it was frankly disturbing.  Mostly because he couldn’t reach it, but also because he was pretty sure Thomas the Spider had put its filthy little paws on it and he had no respect for Thomas, so he didn’t really want it to dirty his things.  Eren’s.  Whatever.  The Lego block didn’t deserve such disgrace either way.

 

Levi just really wanted to clean the goddamn fridge (but there was no way he was getting closer to Thomas and, sadly, that evil creature was right above it).

 

The sound of the door closing too harshly made it move and Levi had to resist the urge to move away even more.

 

Eren’s greeting was probably more enthusiastic than Dora trying to make you count to 10 and the answer he received was about as nice as could be expected from someone in the middle of spidersitting.  Eren came to stand next to Levi and looked up to see what was disrupting his roommate’s cleaning routine.

 

“You know what you should do?” Levi asked after a while.

 

“Kill the spider?”

 

“No.  Take the goddamn Christmas tree down,” he answered, tearing his eyes away from Thomas to hurry out of the room (maybe a little faster than respectable).  Eren followed and stared at him pensively for a while.

 

“This is a nice day,” the brunet started.  “You know what else we could be doing?”

 

“Eren,” Levi warned, only for the other to smile.

 

“Cooking.  Like, getting you to a level where you won’t burn water anymore.”

 

“Did you smoke glue?  Last time you tried to show me, I got your shirt on fire.  We don’t even have anything in the fridge,” he tentatively reasoned.

 

“There’s that cool thing, I think they invented it recently.  Dunno if you heard about it—it’s pretty complicated to understand—it’s called a grocery store.  It’s a place where you get stuff.”

 

Levi glared.  “You better take care of that tree when we get back.”

 

(In the end, he didn’t really mind going, because watching Eren try to roll down an alley and fall down on the floor was the best thing he’d seen all week, and he got to buy Fruit Loops (with Eren’s help—his warm hand on his back and the other reaching for the box because Levi was simply Too Short To Function Properly, and maybe that same spot had been burning afterwards, but he wasn’t sure he cared), and there was a bunch of twelve year old girl scouts that were taller than him carrying people’s food for them at the exit, and maybe seeing the nervous brunette wreck from last time smile sweetly at a shorter blonde girl made him believe that future generations weren’t all bad.

 

But then again, maybe not.)

-o-

In the end, Thomas died an honourable death, away from its beloved yellow plastic but close at heart, and would be remembered for about 5 minutes or until Levi did something more or less dangerous.

 

That was about 869 seconds, apparently, and then he fucked up and pierced a hole through a cauldron.

 

In his defense, cooking rice was pretty damn hard, and he only gave up after half an hour, which was pretty patient of him.

 

The Snape tree was finally taken down and stored away from curious eyes in Eren’s room.  Not like it really changed anything anyway (except maybe that they could now see the living room’s corner—beautiful corner that one).

 

When Levi went to brush his teeth that night, he could almost almost feel Eren’s glare piercing a hole through his skull.

 

“What?” he said once he was done.  Eren hummed without answering, so he repeated the question (because that’s the best way to get someone to answer you, it would seem).

 

“Are you single?” Eren asked, and it made his stomach drop for some reason.

 

“Yeah, why?  I mean, why are you asking?”

 

“No reason.” was the quick answer. “So there’s...uh...there’s somebody coming over tomorrow night so--”

 

Levi nodded.  “Got it.  I’ll take some stuff and leave tomorrow.”

 

“And, uh, he might stay overnight,” Eren added after a while.

 

“I’ll take more stuff and leave, then.”  He turned off the bathroom light and headed to his room.  “I still think you should wear the penguin shirt.”

 

The last thing he heard before closing his door was the soft sound of his roommate’s laughter.

-o-

Against all odds, it turned out Gustav had a daughter.

 

Against more odds, that daughter developed a crush on Levi in 5 seconds flat, possibly only because he said The Lion King was his favorite Disney movie.  Alright, so maybe that daughter was 11.  Maybe she just really looked up to Levi since her only father figure was _Gustav_.

 

Maybe she just sat next to him at dinner because she thought he could protect her from all the other men Hange liked to feed in the room.

 

Maybe she just asked Levi if he wanted her to give him a blow job out of respect.

 

Okay, so Gustav’s daughter had a crush on Levi, and Levi was ready to crush Gustav’s head against a wall for showing sweet little Petra such words, because _who the fuck does that_?

 

(He tried to ignore the way Hange laughed at him all evening, because, well, Hange was weird and nothing could be done about that.)

 

( _“Do you think dildos know they’re dildos, Levi?”_ )

-o-

He came back to find a stranger cooking bacon in his kitchen (never mind that it was 4 p.m.).

 

The stranger was named Jean.  He was also wearing Eren’s penguin shirt, even though it was clearly too small for him.  (Like, dude, get a fucking hint.  You can’t just wear somebody’s shirt if it’s too small for you.  It’s a shirt, not a crop top.)

 

The stranger was a fucking douche.

 

He just ignored Levi when Eren came out of the shower and, like, Levi didn’t usually mind people kissing and all, but that guy just decided to make out with Eren in front of him.  Awkward.

 

He didn’t even offer Levi bacon (he was waiting to be asked just to savagely refuse). 

 

He commented on the yellow Lego on top of the fridge so Eren removed it, and it made Levi feel strangely empty.  Maybe it was for decoration but Jean wouldn’t care, right?  Everybody should be like Jean, _right_?

 

He said The Lion King was awesome so Levi said it sucked simply to annoy the little bitch and Eren gave him a strange look.  But then Jean laughed it off and agreed, and it made Levi dislike him more.

 

He decided to leave when it became evident Jean wasn’t going to.  Hange was still hanging out with shady homeless people when he arrived, but that was to be expected.

 

At least Petra wasn’t Jean, even if she wanted to have sex with Levi with all of her 11 year old might.

-o-

It was only 3 days before Levi had to go back to his apartment, but it was empty.  Out of pure spite, he threw a yellow Lego block on top of the fridge and, after a shower, he put on the pink cat onesie his mother had given him for Christmas and watched The Lion King in the living room while eating Eren’s chocolate ice cream.

 

In theory, nothing could’ve went wrong. 

 

Theory didn’t really like Levi.  Thought he was being a bitch, so made Eren and short angry woman arrive right in the middle of his pathetic alone time.

 

Levi wasn’t sure he could ever recover, but he tried to act normally, even when Eren had him admit to stealing his ice cream.

 

Even when, with the subtlety of a dead whale (and a failed wink), his roommate left him alone with short angry woman and his regrets.  He took one look at her and decided it would be better not to talk to her, until he was given no choice when she pushed her opened hand right into his stomach and he had to shake it.

 

“I’m Annie,” said the short angry woman.

 

(“Are you single?” Eren had asked, and it made his stomach drop once more now that he knew why he did so.)

 

“Levi,” he simply answered and they went back to awkward silence.  They waited until the brunet came back to speak again, and decided to finish watching The Lion King, all of them sitting on the couch, Levi squeezed in the middle, and maybe his left side felt warmer, but maybe that was only because Eren’s stupidity blocked the cold.

(“I thought you’d get along with Annie, but, like, did you not like her?” the idiot had asked afterwards, face scrunched up in confusion.

 

“She just wasn’t really my type,” he’d shrugged.

 

“What’s your type anyway?  Is it because she was blonde?”

 

“Blonde’s fine.  I just don’t think it would be smart to both be short.”  His eyes had gone to Eren’s face.  “And her eyebrows, Christ.  They look like half of them tried to run away.”

 

“Dude, you literally have the same problem.”

 

“Yeah, well, I don’t have to look at my own face while having sex.  Besides, she was kind of bitchy.  I think I’m enough of an asshole for two.”

 

“Okay,” the other chortled.  “Okay.”) 

-o-

Tuesdays were the worst.

 

 _Eren didn't have any classes on Tuesdays, which meant Levi often came home to find him in weird positions just about anywhere ranging from the living room to under the kitchen table while listening to music Levi would really rather have never heard_.

 

Except the apartment was empty when Levi came back, and the air so still it almost made Levi uneasy.  Life with Eren wasn’t supposed to be so calm.

 

Life with Eren was supposed to be stupid and simple and full of laughter and warm.  It was supposed to be the single most beautiful thing Levi had ever experienced (because Levi wasn’t any of that, and somehow everyone had managed to convince him it would be a good idea, that _maybe you’ll get along great, that maybe you be happier with someone so bright in your life_ ).

 

It wasn’t.

(It must have been, for the douche.  It must have been simple and stupid and full of laughter because Eren was like that.  It must have been warm, because Eren was like that, always warm and unmoving, smiling at you like it could save you.

 

~~It must have been beautiful, because Eren was~~

 

Maybe Levi shouldn’t be so selfish.)

-o-

Levi was almost worried there was still a girl studying underneath the table when he went back to the library in the early spring.

 

Almost.

 

He was more worried about his marks, though, so he had no choice but to look for the most (sarcasm) interesting (sarcasm) books (sarcasm) ever (sarcasm).

 

Sarcasm.  In case you couldn’t tell.

 

He wasn’t really sure what he expected to find in that one dark alley filled with books ranging from 341.04 to 379.07.  Probably books ranging from DCC 341.04 to 379.07 though.  But he wasn’t sure.

 

The thing was—that wasn’t what he found (or, well, he did, but he found much more, and that was the problem).

 

(And, if he was honest, the problem was that his first reaction was to think ‘ _I knew it_ ’, and Levi didn’t really know a lot of things, but what he _did_ know wasn’t always good.)

 

The problem was that Jean, king of douchebaggery, was kissing someone right in front of ‘ _Racism: How to Fight It 363.42 MN9C63TRS8.88M’_.

 

The problem was that this person wasn’t Eren, and _Levi knew it_ , _he did, he’d known that Eren deserved better, that Jean was an asshole_.

 

Levi had known all of that.

 

(But life with Eren was simple and stupid.  They could manage without Levi saying anything.)

-o-

Levi didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty when he saw his roommate sit on the floor, carefully (trying) applying pink nail polish.  When he opened the door, the brunet looked up, eyes slightly red but otherwise seemingly normal.

 

( _They could manage_ , he’d thought.  And they had, apparently.  It didn’t make it any better.)

 

He wordlessly went to sit in front of Eren, taking the nail polish from his hands and starting to apply to the other’s nails.

 

( _Simple_ , he’d thought.  _Give him time.  He’ll be okay._ )

 

Once he was done, he let Eren paint his nails the same horrible shade of pink.  Let him braid his short hair; let him rest his forehead against his shoulder; let him whisper against it.

 

(Let him whisper, “I’m sorry.  I’m a mess.”

 

Let him go still; let him breath in.  Let him hear his answer.

 

“It’s fine.  I can’t leave messes alone anyway.”)

-o-

There was maybe perhaps possibly a serial killer sitting on Levi’s couch.

 

A hot serial killer, but still.  He’d have to be hot in Hell, because no way was Levi dying then (not when he still had to write that paper for the next morning.  Dying would have to wait).

 

“Levi,” Eren smiled when he saw him.  He gestured towards the maybe serial killer.  “This is Erwin—he’s in some of my classes.  You don’t mind if we study here, do you?”

 

(And _oh_ —oh.  Levi felt a little bit stupid to always be assuming the worst, but it was better than to have high hopes.)

 

(It really was.)

 

So Levi hummed.  “It’s fine,” he said.  “This is your place too.  Do you know if Daz is working today?”

 

“He should be.  I’m not feeding him all that ink just so he can slack off,” Eren idly commented, twirling his pencil around while looking down at his notes.

 

 _HP printer Daz-ENVY-2003 series_ was a slacker, so of course he decided he wouldn’t work, which was made even more infuriating by the fact Levi actually managed to write up that paper in under two hours.

 

(“Daz isn’t working, so I’m going to go ask Hange if I can steal some of her precious ink,” he’d said half an hour later, when he realised nothing was going to change just how pathetic his printer really was.

 

He’d only received a careless hum in response, but it’s not like he felt bad for leaving Eren alone with Hot-Maybe-Serial-Killer.

 

Not at all.)

 

(He did regret ever leaving his cozy apartment the second Hange opened her mouth though.)

 

(“Do you ever think about the fact that we humans are actually only 3 pounds of brain controlling a body of meat, treating it like a slave, when it isn’t even actually ours.  We’re just like a virus—we need a host to survive and it’s killing me that we spend our host’s precious decaying time on such trivial things as conflicts and—”

 

“Hange, stop fucking crying.”

 

“Yes, but—”)

-o-

Cutie McDangerous was sitting on Levi’s couch and fuck if it wasn’t doing awful things to his body.  Like refusing to let him control his eyes, so that maybe he could stop staring.

 

To be fair, the guy was looking at him pretty intensely too.  He was almost worried he had something stuck between his teeth at this point.  Not that there was anything wrong with having something stuck between your teeth, except maybe for the fact it was absolutely disgusting and Levi had considered never eating again when he had seen such cases, but then had quickly realised food was his only friend and decided it was a bad idea, but still.  Let’s be politically correct and just deny the facts here to state there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Still made him damn worried.

 

So, after a while of awkward awkwardness, Levi decided to just be as sociable as he could be and asked, in a glorious rough, _sounds-like-I-just-lost-my-voice-but-I-didn’t-I’m-just-nervous-as-fuck_ , voice, “Did you need anything?”

 

And then promptly forgot to breathe, which in turn made him choke on absolutely nothing, when another pair of eyes came to meet his, because the audience was suddenly larger and because that’s just something Levi did, some days.

 

There was a long silence before any of them dared say another word.  “Yes,” Erwin answered, loud and clear and his voice was probably the nicest thing Levi had heard all day, all smooth and low.  “I need to know if my poor soul will ever have a chance with you.”

 

And— _oh_.  Okay.  Well. Okay.  Who even did this anymore?  Who even _cared_?  Because Levi didn’t.  For all he cared, Erwin could be the one guy with the cheesiest pick-up lines ever, who strangely liked to try them out at 3 in the morning, and Levi would forgive him.  Nobody got a man that fine nowadays and just let him go, like _c’mon_.

 

“I guess it could, if you were to take me to see _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ this Friday,” he coughed out.

 

(Erwin’s smile then made his stomach do weird tricks, and he still wasn’t sure he liked it.)

 

(Eren’s eyeroll made his whole chest feel like it was collapsing, and he wasn’t sure he liked it either.)

 

(“Are you single?” Eren had asked, his teal eyes staring straight at him. 

 

Levi swallowed and tried to convince himself he hadn’t hoped for something different when he’d heard those words.)

-o-

Friday came along and Levi came to two (2) conclusions:

 

One: Credence Barebone deserved so much better.

 

(Credence was the purest being of them all and the fact that he endured so much shit only proved how strong his character was, and the way he was desperate to have even only a little, piece of magic in him, most likely to protect not only himself but also the other orphans, shows us how hopeful he is, and it broke Levi’s heart how he just broke; how he just lost that tiny little bit of hope he had left and just gave up.

 

Also Ezra Miller was hot, even with that ridiculous haircut.)

 

Two:  Erwin Smith deserved so much better.

 

(Even though his ‘poor soul’ would be enough to please just anyone, Levi was being irrational.

 

Erwin was great and everything, and Levi had never felt this comfortable on a date before, and then, at the end of the movie, he’d found those deep blue eyes on him, so he’d moved closer, bringing his lips breaths away from Erwin’s, waiting for him to make the decision. 

 

And he had.  The kiss was great—it really was.  By normal standards.  But Levi knew those couldn’t be applied there, knew the waves of cold in his body weren’t something he’d want in a relationship.

 

Knew better than to say ‘yes’ when Erwin asked him if they could go on another date later.

 

(“I’m sorry.  You’re a great guy and all, I’m sorry.  I’m just being stupid and I think your deserve better and—”

 

“It’s okay, Levi.”

 

“But—”

 

“It’s okay.”)

 

Levi didn’t even deserve that much kindness, to be honest.  He wasn’t thinking rationally and he knew it, but he wasn’t sure he even regretted his decision.)

 

He almost managed to draw a third one, but he’d quite frankly rather not even think about it.  If only for his sanity.

-o-

Levi had no idea how his life even ever lead to _this_.

 

He wasn’t even disappointed, which only made it worse.  He was just genuinely curious.  Like, how does something like this even happen?  If you’d asked him how he pictured his life in college when he was a kid, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have answered ‘ _watching_ Zooboomafoo _at 2 A.M. while eating peanuts without anything to drink because Good Ideas tm’_.

 

Then again, no time in his life was expected to be like this, yet he found himself doing just that, and maybe he found it a little pathetic deep down.  Mostly because he was singing along, and there was quite a bit of shame in that.

 

The sound of a door closing was almost deafening, even over his melodious screeching.

 

The sound of Levi falling on the floor even more so.  His heart felt like it was about to burst, his cheeks warm when he got up and looked around to see Eren silently laughing.

 

“Is that what I think it is?”  Eren asked after a while, looking at the T.V. screen, smile still on his face even after minutes of Levi’s glare.  “Aww,” he cooed.  “You’re so cute.”  Laugh.

 

“I was bored,” he tried to explain.

 

“Right.”

 

“I really was!”

 

(And Levi had trouble sleeping that night because—

 

“You’re so cute,” Eren had laughed.  Loud.  Clear.  Levi almost believed it.  He tried not to, because it inevitably led to the sinking realisation (one he’d avoided for _weeks_ ) that he was completely infatuated with Eren Jaeger, and he shouldn’t be, _he shouldn’t be_ , but he was and it made him feel weird and—

 

Levi buried his face in his pillow.)

-o-

Levi lasted about two months before he got tired of acting like a blushing middle school girl and decided to actually _do_ something about his stupid crush.  That something consisted of horrible flirting he usually got distracted in the middle of, possibly because Eren thought it was a joke and laughed and that laugh did things to Levi he’d rather not think about.

 

To be fair, his flirting was pretty bad to begin with (apparently, being passive-aggressive doesn’t get you a boyfriend these days).

 

The one good new was that he managed to survive until it was almost summer, and then they would both go separate ways for a few months, and Levi could calm the fuck down.  Maybe find some other cutie to bother.

 

Except that wasn’t going to happen, because Levi’s best friend just so happened to be Eren’s little sister; because the very sight of both their toothbrushes side by side on the sink was enough to make his chest feel warm in ways he didn’t knew possible these days; because he knew nobody could compare to Eren fucking Jaeger.

 

Eren Jaeger who forced him to slow dance to the Pokémon theme song.

 

Eren Jaeger who always laughed at him and called him cute.

 

Eren Jaeger who sat down next to Levi on the couch one day and simply said “Sasha’s throwing a party before the finals tomorrow and I want curly hair, so you better get braiding.”

 

And Levi did, with shaky hands and an unsteady heartbeat, soft brown locks slipping between his short fingers, thoughts too loud for him to hear whatever the brunet was saying, breath hitching whenever Eren moved a little.

 

(“You’re cute,” Eren had said, and it made his heart race.)

 

And then Eren was looking back at him, gaze questioning, eyes so beautiful and lips barely apart.

 

“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” Levi muttered, like it was the dirtiest confession, like it was the most shameful thing, and he knew it had to be when Eren’s eyebrows furrowed, expression confused.  But he still leaned closer, still stopped one breath shy of Eren’s lips to whisper an uncertain “Sorry?” while staring straight into the teal of the brunet’s eyes.

 

Still let dread settle in him the longer the silence stretched, the other boy unmoving.  Still closed the distance between them when he felt like he was about to puke.  Still looked at him nervously when he didn’t move for what seemed like hours after Levi pulled away.

 

Eren swallowed.  “You still haven’t answered, you know.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Are you going with me?  To Sasha’s party.”  He brought his lips to Levi’s forehead, tan fingers warm against his shoulders.

 

“I guess I could go,” Levi replied in a daze, closing his eyes when the brunet kissed his nose, and he couldn’t say he regretted his decision when he felt Eren’s smile against his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I hope you enjoyed, but since it's my first fanfic, I'm not really sure how I should write so if you could maybe comment on what you liked or what you didn't, it would be awesome! Don't hesitate to tell me if there are some mistakes!
> 
> Thank you!


End file.
